Breath of Fire: Chains of Desire
by Spooks94
Summary: Another novelazation, this one of the first Breath of Fire game. A village razed to the ground ignites the powers of the Chosen One of Ladon and triggers a series of events that will shatter the chains of the Goddess of Desire.


**A/N:** Ah this novelazation is the result of being on vacation and having only Breath of Fire to play on my laptop and the need to write something. And since I started it I might as well finish it, which is funny because that's the same thing I'm saying about my Suikoden fic (which isn't done yet). Bah. It'll get done when it gets done. ...I hope.

Oh hey it's 4/20! Does everybody know what that means? (If you don't then congrats for you're far more innocent than I! And if you know then....light it up and pass it!)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything and if you think I do....please send me money. ^___^

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Breath of Fire: Chains of Desire  
Chapter One: _The Clans_

_When the Dragon Clan was at the peak of its power a Goddess of Desire appeared, her name was Tyr, the granter of wishes. It came to pass that the powerful dragons became swayed by her temptations, the promise of power and wealth, for they were not unlike their cousins in their ambitions. And so the most power species in the world, the Dragon Clan, began to fight one another for her fickle favor and power, destroying cities and people in their greed. The Dragons abandoned their God and so began their downfall._

Tyr encouraged the fighting and watched the war between the dragons escalate as she became bloated with her own growing power and the blood of the fallen. When the world was poised on the brink of destruction and lay nearly wasted at the hands of its protectors a warrior stepped forward. He was a dragon and remained unmoved by Tyr's treacherous temptations and was one of the few who still followed the Dragon God. The warrior battled Tyr endlessly with his seven companions and finally succeeded in locking her away using six magical keys, which eventually become known simply as the Goddess Keys.

The Goddess Keys were scattered and buried in the earth and sea, in fire and ice to insure that Tyr would never return to their world. After the Goddess of Desire had been locked away and her influence neutralized the remaining dragons looked upon the havoc they had wreaked and knew sorrow. They vowed never to let greed rule them again and acknowledged that with great power came great responsibility, they became known as the Dragon Clan of the Light, or simply the Light Dragons. As they helped heal the world they had almost destroyed discord arose in the now peaceful clan, some wished to rule over the other weaker species. Those voices of malcontent were exiled from their clan and formed themselves into the Dark Dragon Family. So it was for many years, the two powerful clans balanced one another and peace reigned in the their land once again.

~ From _The Legend of the Great Dragon Schism_

A young man tossed fitfully in his sleep and moaned low in his throat as if in distress. Strands of blue hair escaped its braid and became plastered to his sweat soaked face as he twisted in his narrow bed. Tanned skin twitched spastically as long, smooth muscular limbs tangled themselves in the thin, rough spun sheets; his eyelids flickering wildly as he dreamt.

Ryu, warrior of the Dragon Clan of the Light, dreamt of darkness. Before him was a large, bulky figure encased in shadows, but Ryu knew its shape well; it was after all kin to him, it was a dragon but not just any dragon. Ryu had prayed to a miniature version of the dragon all his life. Ladon. The dreamscape around him shuddered and it took Ryu a few precious moments to realize that it was a voice, Ladon's voice.

"Wake up warrior," the deep voice rumbled from above him. Red eyes glowed coldly high above him and the voice was stern. "Disaster has struck, the power of the dragon is needed!" Luminescent green scales tinted gray by the surrounding darkness flared brightly, blinding Ryu and when his eyes had finally cleared his dream world exploded once more. Fire hissed and crackled, licking up the dragon's glowing body. "You shall perish if you do not wake up!" Ladon's urgent voice rang through Ryu's mind.

A great claw reached out of the fire and shook him frantically and Ryu frowned. _Claw?_ The enormous claw morphed, shrinking and paling to the color of human flesh. _It's a woman's hand, an old woman's hand withered with age._ "Ryu wake up!" A frail voice wheezed.

Ryu's green eyes snapped open and he rolled off the bed instinctively when he saw a bent figure leaning over him. He hit the hardwood floor with a dull thud and blinked blearily at the woman that stood over him swathed in the blue-cowled robe of a magician. "Esma?" He croaked. 

"The village is engulfed in flames," the old woman told him, voice muffled by her hand that covered her nose and mouth. "Everything is burning, we must go!"

Ryu's nose twitched as he inhaled and then gagged when the sharp pungent scent of smoke and burning linens, timber, and-he sniffed cautiously-burning flesh invaded his nose. _No,_ he thought in horror before he broke into a coughing fit, coughing and gagging until his face was red with effort and he was out of breath. _Damn my sensitive nose_, Ryu grumbled to himself as he scrambled to his feet, stumbling after Esma as she lead the way down the smoke filled hallway. He winced as he felt his skin become uncomfortably hot and tight in the heat and then he noticed what he was wearing, or what he wasn't wearing. _Stupid_, he berated himself, _go tromping around a burning house in nothing but pants. Brilliant Ryu, aren't you just the sharpest tool in the shed._

They continued the short walk down the hallway without words until Ryu jumped back with an oath as a wall of flame leapt up before him, separating him from the old woman. He eyed the fire carefully, _I could transform into a flame pup and pass through with no problem but the house is damaged and even in just pup form I'd still weigh a small ton. The floorboards are weakened, I can feel it, they'd probably give way._

"Don't even think about it young man," Esma snapped, as if she read his mind. "I'll stop the fire so don't even think about shifting into a dragon." She clasped her hands together and her lips formed the familiar words of the lowest level ice spell. 

Ryu rushed forward as the flames died momentarily, long enough for him to reach the stairs before they flared back to life and licked hungrily at the wooden floors, walls, and furniture. "Close," he murmured.

"My magic was once strong," Esma told him ruefully with only a trace of bitterness, "but at my age I can barely dowse this fire. Come." She straightened her bent shoulders and hobbled down the stairs, beckoning for Ryu to follow. 

The two arrived downstairs in time to hear a male voice, old but still strong enough to carry across the room. "-This building is safe from flames for the time being." 

"I hate to break it to you Chief Feelan," Ryu interrupted dryly, "but the upstairs hallway is in flames."

"Ah Ryu, I'm glad Esma was able to reach you." The Chief of the Light Dragons turned and smiled as the pair stepped into the slightly cooler room. "We will be safe in this room for the time being. Sara has placed the protection of Ladon over it." His watery blue eyes roamed over the small group, five men and three women, and sighed, "This is all that's left."

"Where is Sara?" Ryu asked, his eyes searching the large room for his older sister.

"She and Jacob are searching the flames for survivors," Feelan answered, "but I don't think they will be successful."

"The fire is so intense, it doesn't seem natural!" Tsutaka, the owner of Drogen's now burning Inn, wrung his large hands together in despair. _Probably thinking about the damage to his Inn,_ Ryu snorted,_ not the town as a whole._

"That's because it isn't boy," Esma said tartly. "It's an all consuming flame that will never burn out until it's caster wills it or another magician counters it."

"We woke up surrounded by flames," Eyrick wailed plaintively. "What have we done to deserve this?"

Ryu rubbed his forehead, his fingers tracing the faintly dragon shaped scar there. "Who's doing this?"

"We don't know," Ayine, the daughter of the local blacksmith, whispered hoarsely. "That's what Sara is trying to find out."

"Our faith is in Sara, her magic will keep us safe." Ayine's cousin, Freyane, said quietly, bravely trying to mask the fear in her eyes. "We must wait for Sara."

"In the mean time." The village chief gathered the edges of his robes together and tore. The slightly frayed fabric came free with a reluctent tearing noise and Feelan held the long strips of cloth out to a baffled Ryu.

"What?" 

"Your arm, it's bleeding," Feelan told him patiently; hold out the strips of cloth. "Wrap your wound."

Ryu blinked, his gaze sliding down to his arm and the ugly slash that ran down it. "Oh, I didn't even notice it. I must sliced my arm open on a piece of wood or something." He shrugged and took the substitute bandages and expertly wrapped the sluggishly bleeding cut. 

The room's occupants jumped as the door burst open, banging against the wall and Ryu's head snapped up from his arm, his muscles automatically tensing in anticipation for battle. "It's horrible," Jacob told them hoarsely, his normally deep voice abused by the noxious smoke. "Men, woman, and children," He swallowed convulsively, "all dead. Burned by the flames or cut down as they attempted to escape."

"Ladon," Ryu breathed. His village burned, the people he grew up with murdered?

"The Dark Dragons are outside of the village," Sara reported, her pale skin stained black with soot. "We're completely surrounded, there is no escape. They've been scheming behind out backs and now they have us."

"The Dark Dragon Family is scheming against us?" Their chief echoed incredulously.

"I heard that Zog, the Dark Dragon King, vowed to conquer the world." The husband of the Item Shop keeper murmured.

Ryu snorted, "Zog fancies himself an Emperor not a mere King of a Dragon Clan." 

"His first target must be the Light Dragons," Feelan ventured. "Buy why?"

"We _are_ Dragons," Sara pointed out, "but we can no longer transform."

"Except for Ryu and Sara, the Warrior and the Priestess," Esma said dryly. "Regardless, they seem to be making the Light Dragons their first target."

"They wish to eliminate their most dangerous threat," Ryu murmured thoughtfully.

"Zog is a fool!" Esma spat. "He doesn't know that most of us have lost the Power of the Dragon for the sake of peace."

Chief Feelan paced the length of the room before spinning abruptly and facing the remainder of his people. "I won't sit by while they attack us! I say we act now!"

Sara shook her head, her long blue hair tumbling over her cloaked shoulders. "There is no escape, they have surrounded the village."

"If we can't escape, there's only one thing to do," their leader snarled. "We fight!"

Esma straightened her crooked back and announced proudly, "I will, _I must_, use my magic against the forces that would seek to destroy us. Let us go." 

Ryu's mouth dropped open as the two oldest members of the village started determinedly for the door and the flames beyond. _You've got to be kidding me... Two of the oldest members of Drogen and a handful of men and women who have never seen a fight? We're all going to die._

"Wait!" Sara cried, stepping in front of them and blocking their way. "We are to weak. Our group will be devastated by their army!"

"We can't give up! Let's show them the spirit of the dragon, _we don't need to physically a dragon to be a dragon_!" Eyrick argued, his blood being to stir with the dragon's innate need to fight, a trait that had been long buried in the Light Dragons. "Come Sara, let's go. I know we can take them."

"No," The Priestess of Ladon shook her head gravely, "I must do my part on my own." She murmured something in the ancient tongue of the Dragon Clan, a dead language that dated back to before the Great Schism. Slowly the color drained from Eyrick's face, hair, and clothes as his skin hardened until he became nothing more then a smooth gray statue of stone.

"What have you done?" Feelan whispered; his old watery eyes widened in horror.

Sara turned dark eyes to Drogan's leader, "I've turned him to stone so that the fire will not affect him. Flesh and bones could never survive but stone can last an eternity." She saw Feelan's look of outrage and said fiercely, "Remember out mission as members of the Light Dragon Clan."

"Stone of not, they'll still find us!"

"I know and I am prepared." She lifted her slender hands and murmured those dreaded ancient words once again. "The protection I have placed over this room his weakening and soon the flames will devour this room as well as its occupants."

Ryu struggled as he was slowly drained of color and felt himself become heavy and lethargic, "No, Sara stop!" He cried frantically, "There must be another way. Let me help you! I can fight, I can harness the power of the dragon!" He struggled against her powerful magic and managed to move two steps toward her before his lower body became stone and to heavy to move. "Please," He cried hoarsely, the fear in his voice tangible, "don't leave me alone!"

"Ryu you cannot yet fight the Dark Dragons, you don't have the skill and your dragon form is still nothing more than an infant." His sister, his only family, turned away as he slowly gave up the struggle against the Break Spell and was turned into living statue. "We've suffered enough," Sara squared her shoulders in determination, "I'll take care of the Dark Dragons." She turned back to her brother and placed a gentle hand on his stone cheek. "Be strong. When you're a warrior, fully fledged and in full control of your powers, you'll bring peace to the world. You are the Chosen One, the Warrior of the Dragon God." She glanced over his unmoving shoulder at the remaining villagers who stood frozen in time, held in the unbreakable grip of her spell. "Take care, may the power of the Light Dragons prevail and the Dragon Lord watch over you all." She turned and strode to the door and look one last time at the face of her younger brother. She knew that he could not possibly be conscious but then why, _why were tears coursing down the smooth stone of his cheeks?_

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**A/N:** Oh-hum. I'm really fond of this story but then again I'm fond of most of my stories...Let's see... Reviews are worshipped and framed so feel free to leave them to stroke my ego.


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